Abstract

Several studies have been done worldwide to examine issues related to providing
feedback on student writing in different second language classrooms (e.g. Hyland and
Hyland, 2006). Various types of feedback can be implemented, such as teacher
feedback (e.g. Hamid, 2007; Ferris and Hedgcock, 2005), peer/group feedback (e.g.
Bartels, 2003; Saito and Fujita, 2004; Hyland and Hyland, 2006; Yang et al, 2006;
Villamil and De Guerrero, 2006) and self-feedback (Makino, 1993; Ferris, 2002).
However, it could be inappropriate or at least questionable to use the same type of
Written Feedback (WF) in dissimilar pedagogic and contextual settings. For this
reason, mixed methods research (mixed research) was carried out to compare staff and
students' perspectives, attitudes, experiences and understanding of issues related to WF
in three English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary schools in Syria. In particular,
this research set out to discover what type of feedback on student writing dominates in
the EFL Syrian secondary classroom, the reasons behind such dominance and how
these students and staff view implementing types of feedback other than that/those
dominant in that classroom.
To reach this goal, six types of triangulation were utilised to enhance the validity and
reliability of the research outcomes: data source, methodological, respondent, space,
analysis and methodology triangulation. This research concludes that teacher feedback
(TF) has precedence among other types of WF in the Syrian context and this can be
attributed to four main factors that are related to: teachers, students, the current
educational system and the social system prevailing at the time of the research.
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